ˈwillow-herb
[So named from the resemblance of the leaves to the willow's. Cf. the earlier herb willow (herb n. 7 b).
All the plants so named were formerly included under the name Lysimachia.]
1. Yellow loosestrife, Lysimachia vulgaris.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. li. 74 The first [Lysimachion] which we may call Golden or yellow Lysimachus, Willow herbe, and Louse strife. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cxxii. 386 Lysimachia lutea. Yellow Willow herbe. 1755 B. Stillingfl. Cal. Flora 2 Sept. 1857 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. IV. 236 (Great Yellow Loosestrife)..is sometimes called Yellow Willow-herb. |
2. Any plant of the extensive genus Epilobium, esp. E. angustifolium and hirsutum.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. li. 73 Lysimachium purpureum primum. The first purple red, willow herbe. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cxxii. 386 Lysimachia siliquosa. Codded Willow herbe... Chamænerion. Rose bay Willow herbe. 1697 Lhwyd in Phil. Trans. XXVII. 50 The Common French Willow-Herb. 1785 Martyn Lett. Bot. xix. (1794) 257 Our European Willow Herbs. 1802 Coleridge Picture 89 Lychnis, and willow-herb, and fox-glove bells. 1861 S. Thomson Wild Fl. iii. (ed. 4) 224 The willow-herb, or Epilobium genus. 1899 Crockett Kit Kennedy xxxvii, A little ten-yard square island all overgrown with red purple willow herb. |
3. spiked willow-herb or purple-spiked willow-herb: purple loosestrife, Lythrum Salicaria.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. li. 75 Poynted willow Herbe with the purple floure. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cxxii. 386 Lysimachia purpurea spicata. Spiked Willow herbe. 1755 B. Stillingfl. Cal. Flora 1 July. |
4. In full hooded willow-herb: Scutellaria galericulata or S. minor.
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cxxii. 387 Lysimachia galericulata, or hoodded Willowe herbe. 1777 Lightfoot Flora Scotica I. 320 Scutellaria minor... Little red Scull cap, or Willow-herb. 1785 Martyn Lett. Bot. iv. (1794) 46 Some plants only having little or no smell as..hooded willow herb. 1866 in Treas. Bot. |